Radical Cup Gears Up for Road America Weekend

The Blue Marble Radical Cup North America is set for Round 2 at Road America during the NTT IndyCar Soniso Grand Prix presented by AMR, this weekend.

And just like during the opening Round at Barber, multiple drivers are again expected to be vying for wins this weekend.

Group-A Racing drivers Reid Stewart (Pro 1340) and Reece Everard (Pro 1500) are both eyeing the top of the championship table in their respective classes, while teammate Steve Jenks hopes he can extend his two-point lead in the Platinum class.

Pro 1340

Reid Stewart enters this weekend just one point adrift of the Pro 1340 class championship lead, but with his Arizona rivals Chris McMurry and Vince Switzer sitting this round out, Stewart effectively holds a 15-point advantage over Canadian Austin Riley (Racing with Autism).

Riley comes to Road America on a high, after clinching his first Blue Marble Radical Cup victory at Barber, however during first official practice it was Stewart who set the benchmark with a 2:18.383, just one tenth up on David Alban (RingPower.com/WISKO Racing), who also impressed in Alabama.

2021 class champ Mike Anzaldi (Emmett’s Energy/RYNO Racing) should also be one to watch, as will a number of fellow Autobahn Country Club members including Team Stradale’s Chris Kemp and Mike D’Ambrose.

Pro 1500

A single point also separates 2021 Outright Series Champ and Pro 1500 title holder Gustavo Rafols from rookie sensation Reece Everard.

While Rafols walked away from Round 1 with two wins to Everard’s one, the latter set the fastest lap in all three races, and again had the fastest time in Practice 1 at Elkhart Lake, with a 2:13.305.

Another young-gun, Palmer Miller (Radical Texas/ESSES Racing) also impressed during testing, while Pius Eigenmann (RYNO Racing) showed there is still plenty of pace in the older RS variant of the SR3.

Local Nate Smith (Lagersmith/RYNO Racing) is another to keep an eye on.

Platinum

All the big hitters in the Platinum class had turbulent weekends at Barber, including reigning champ Indy Al Miller (Blue Marble/ONE Motorsports), who sits only fifth in the standings entering Road America.

Newcomer Robert Rossi (Carpet Giants/WISKO Racing) wowed with two podiums and sits second in the points behind Steve Jenks, while Wisconsin native Louis Schriber III (Shorewood/RYNO Racing) and Judd Miller (Radical Texas/ESSES Racing) both took victories at Barber and have both vowed to win again this weekend.

In Practice 1 Indy Al Miller set the pace with a 2:07.923, nearly a full second clear of Jenks and Judd Miller. Former ALMS star Jon Field (Scott Wagner) sat the session out to modify the setup of his SR10.

Significant rain in the lead up to the event has left the Road America circuit ‘green’ and lacking grip, so expect the times to tumble as the track rubbers in.

Qualifying takes place today, Friday, at 12:45pm (CDT), followed by Race 1 at 4:55pm (CDT). Saturday’s race 2 immediately follows INDYCAR’s final practice at 4:55pm (CDT), while Race 3 takes place following the INDYCAR race at 2:15pm (CDT) on Sunday.

You can follow along with livetiming via the Racemonitor app, and watch each race live at youtube.com/RadicalMotorsport